Is a Dying Chinese Space Station Currently Hurtling Towards Southern Idaho?

Eight tons of Chinese space junk is headed towards southern Idaho. HEAD FOR THE HILLS EVERYONE! OK, not so fast. There’s a Chinese space station whose orbit has slowly been degrading since China lost control of it in 2016. Now, scientists are saying that the space station will come crashing to Earth sometime between now and the first weeks of April.

When it does come crashing to Earth, Southern Idaho is one of the likely spots the crash could hit.

The majority of the space station will burn up on re-entry, but there is a real possibility that some of the bigger pieces could make it through our atmosphere and come crashing into the Treasure Valley somewhere. Scientists suggest that while the space station fragments could very well hit Earth, the chances of them hitting any human is extremely rare. The current estimated crash date is April 4th with any of America's northern states being a target.

Credit: Aerospace.org

In the map above, the yellow areas are the most likely to be hit by debris.

The Daily Mail says that up to 40% of the space station could survive re-entry. That means that pieces as large as 700 pounds could make through the atmosphere to land somewhere.

The odds of a crash in Idaho are slim, but you don’t want to say I didn’t warn you. Speaking of odds, remember in the NCAA tournament, the chances of a number 1 seed losing to a 16 seed in the NCAA basketball was slim to none and you saw what happened this year when UMBC beat Virginia. So yeah, you’ve been warned.